Congo says several towns recaptured from rebels but fighting intensifies in its east. — 12 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 20 media reports (LINK)

Landslides kill at least 10 in Brazil's Minas Gerais state. — 12 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 72 media reports (LINK)

Biden calls for immediate ceasefire in call with Netanyahu, White House says. — 12 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 180 media reports (LINK)

Zelenskiy says he's ready to exchange North Korean soldiers for Ukrainians held in Russia. — 12 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 183 media reports (LINK)

Italy releases Iranian citizen held on a US warrant over drone attack in Jordan that killed 3 Americans. — 13 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 99 media reports (LINK)

— US accused him of supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran's military, in violation of US sanctions. 'Criminal association to violate the IEEPA'" is not "punished by the Italian criminal system", the Italian Justice Ministry's statement said, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a US federal law which gives the US president emergency sanction powers.His release comes just days after Iranian authorities released Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from a Tehran jail, following intense diplomatic efforts by Rome. Tehran has denied any links between her case and Abedini's.

Ukraine captures 2 North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Zelensky says. First time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the war last autumn. — 11 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 325 media reports (LINK)

— Zelensky said of the two Korean soldiers who had been captured: "This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea's involvement in the war against Ukraine." — (LINK)

— According to Ukrainian and Western assessments, some 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy several hundred square kilometres after staging a cross-border incursion in August last year. Last week, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said more than 1,000 North Korean forces had been killed or wounded in Kursk in the last week of December.

— Ukraine had previously said it captured North Korean soldiers in combat, but that they had been badly wounded and died shortly afterward.

Four Islamic State members, including two leaders, killed in eastern Iraq by Iraqi airstrike. — 11 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 11 media reports (LINK)

Four Israeli troops killed in northern Gaza, army says. — 11 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 35 media reports (LINK)

— The deaths increased the total number of soldiers killed in Gaza to 403 since the war began over 15 months ago. Eight people, including two children, were reported killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter near Jabalia, according to Gaza's Civil Defence Agency.

Biden administration extends temporary protected status for 800,000 from Venezuela and El Salvador, plus 137,000 others from Sudan and Ukraine. — 11 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 204 media reports (LINK)

Trump prosecutor Jack Smith resigns from Justice Department. — 11 January 2025 (LINK: limited)

The architecturally significant houses destroyed in L.A.'s fires, including Will Rogers' home. — 11 January 2025 (LINK)

— Sharon Stone Opens Home to Wildfire Victims Who 'Have Lost Everything'. — (LINK)

— All the celebrity-loved restaurants, hotspots and landmarks burned down in LA wildfires. — (LINK)

— How the wildfires in the Los Angeles area could affect California's home insurance market. — (LINK)

— First person to report the Palisades fire is still battling to save his home. — 9 January 2025 (LINK). Nic Libonati, 21, was first to call 911 about fire. He also went to alert his neighbors to the fire. His house on Piedra Morada is still standing: spot fires continue to flare up in the area.

Misinformation spreads like wildfire online while LA neighbourhoods burn. — (LINK)

— Inside Climate News: "Misleading claims and falsehoods about water and firefighting resources distracted from the unprecedented conditions that left Los Angeles primed for the most destructive fire in its history."

— In a post on incoming President Donald Trump's Truth Social, he blamed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for not signing an agreement "that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way" all to "protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt."

NYPost: BlackRock quits 'Net Zero' initiative at perfect time as woke policies contribute to devastating LA fires. — (LINK)

Southern cities brought to a halt as winter storm dumps historic levels of snow. Memphis has seen the most single-day snow totals in 40 years.. — 11 January 2025 (LINK)

cointribune: BRICS' monetary ambitions collapse under dollar strength. — 11 January 2025 (LINK)

International Bar Association: BRICS expansion into payment systems poses threat to dominance of US dollar. — (LINK)

Swiss scientists have taught fungi to generate electricity. — 11 January 2025 (LINK)

— Their fungal battery invention is 3D-printed - with fungal cells mixed into the printing ink - and has the unique advantage of being biodegradable. Once it's served its purpose, the battery digests itself from the inside.

FactCheck.org: 'Meta is ending its partnership with U.S. fact-checking organizations, such as ours.' — 11 January 2025 (LINK)

Benin army suffers heavy losses in jihadist northern attack: Over 120 military were killed between 2021 and December 2024 — report. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 14 media reports (LINK)

More than 100,000 people displaced in eastern Congo since the start of the year, UN says. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 31 media reports (LINK)

US, UK impose sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil industry: include two of the country's largest oil companies and 183 vessels in Russia's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

Israel to obliterate Hamas if hostages not released before Trump's inauguration: Minister Katz. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 24 media reports (LINK)

Fluoride-IQ study fuels debate over US water fluoridation. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 107 media reports (LINK)

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has put the decades-old debate over water fluoridation back on the table. A meta-analysis of studies found that a 1 part per million increase in fluoride in urine is linked to a 1.63 drop in IQ score, with consistent evidence showing that higher fluoride exposure is associated with diminished IQ in children. Nine-year research review concludes that higher fluoride levels result in lower IQ scores, with a 5-point decrease in a population's IQ nearly doubling the number of people classified as intellectually disabled.

— About 63 percent of Americans have fluoridated water. Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Dr. Steven Levy "questions the study's conclusions, noting all human studies in the review are from outside the US with a high risk of bias, and emphasizes there is no evidence of adverse effects at lower fluoride levels used in community water fluoridation systems."(LINK)

— The World Health Organization suggests a guideline of 1.5 mg/L. In the U.S., water and beverages comprise about 75% of fluoride intake, with fluoridated water contributing between 40% and 70%. Fluoride also comes from other sources, such as dental products, food, and industrial emissions. Notably, 52 of the 74 studies included were rated as high risk of bias. No studies included U.S. populations, limiting direct applicability to U.S. public health recommendations. — (LINK)

— Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear. According to the U.S. Public Health Service, since being added to public drinking water in the 1960s, it's reduced the average number of cavities by 44% in adults and 58% in adolescents. — (LINK)

US to return $52.88 mln in assets forfeited by ex-Nigerian oil minister. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 41 media reports (LINK)

— The money is being sent back to Nigeria from the US, whose authorities allege that former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke enriched herself, and others, while leading Nigeria's state oil firm by awarding contracts in exchange for bribes. The US alleged that the money was then used to buy a 65-metre superyacht called the Galactica Star plus multiple luxury properties in California and New York. Alison-Madueke, 64, has always denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Ending a two-year vacancy, Lebanon picks US-backed Aoun as President in shift from Iran. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 359 media reports (LINK)

Venezuela's Maduro sworn in for third term after contested election. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 360 media reports (LINK)

Trump issues warning to Maduro as Venezuelan leader enters third term, US expands sanctions. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 8 media reports (LINK)

Trump spared jail at hush money sentencing, days before inauguration. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 559 media reports (LINK)

— The unconditional discharge sentence means that Trump will not face any punishment, fines, or probationary supervision, but it also cements his status as a convicted felon.

Fox Corp loses bid to be removed from voting systems provider Smartmatic's $2bn lawsuit against Fox News for knowingly aired false information about its software to boost ratings. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

Experts predict Supreme Court's refusal to save Trump 'a real warning sign'. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

— Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett voted alongside the high court's liberal justices. Health policy expert Eric Feigl-Ding emphasized, "The Supreme Court will not save Trump—Donald J Trump will formally become a CONVICTED FELON as of Friday morning Jan 10, 2025.

— Historian Garrett M. Graff commented: "This is a symbolic victory, but it's a real warning sign that there are four solid Supreme Court votes to allow Trump to do anything at all. America's democracy hangs by the thin thread of Roberts and Coney Barrett's feelings in any given case."

Letter from The New Humanitarian's CEO as TNH marks 30 years. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

New Humanitarian: Trends that will spur humanitarian needs in 2025. — (LINK)

2024 first year to pass 1.5C global warming limit. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

— No, the Hollywood sign is not on fire — (LINK)

Meta disbands diversity team and says DEI has become 'charged': Reports. — 10 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 221 media reports (LINK)

Federal judge holds Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court for repeating false claims about election workers. — 10 January 2025 (LINK)

— The ex-New York City mayor owes the two election workers $148 million.

Benin army suffers heavy losses in jihadist northern attack: Over 120 military were killed between 2021 and December 2024 — report. — 9 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 14 media reports (LINK)

U.S. announces $500m more Ukraine aid as Zelenskyy calls for NATO to deploy troops to "force Russia into peace". — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

NATO takes control from US of air defences in Poland crucial to supporting Ukraine days before Trump takes office. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

Venezuelan opposition leader Machado free after being 'violently intercepted,' her team says. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

U.S. House of Congress passes sanctions bill against International Criminal Court officials in response to Netanyahu warrant. — 9 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 86 media reports (LINK)

— 45 Democrats joined 198 Republicans in backing the bill, with no Republican opposition. The bill will now be considered by the Senate, which is under Republican control.

Blackrock departs net zero initiative, joining other firms in mass exodus from net zero groups. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

— "A historic win for consumers and a decent start for BlackRock rolling back its destructive influence on America's economy. Now, BlackRock must work to fully repair the damage it has caused by ending the harmful incentives it put in place for executives via ESG, beyond net zero targets, including racial and sex-based discrimination in hiring and promotion," Will Hild, executive director of Consumers' Research, a conservative consumer advocacy group, said in a statement.

— wikipedia: "Consumers' Research is a American conservative 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Established in 1929, it was a founding organization in the consumer protection movement. It turned to the right after its sale in 1981 to a conservative publisher." (LINK)

WEF 2025 Crystal Award: this year's winners: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and global advocate for children's rights, David Beckham; fashion designer, philanthropist, and champion of women's rights, Diane von Furstenberg; and architect, social activist, and 2024 Pritzker Prize laureate Riken Yamamoto. The awards will be presented in Davos on 20 January. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

British man told he can't recover £598m of Bitcoin on discarded hard-drive from landfill site. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

EU scientists extract oldest known 1.2-million-year-old ice core, in Antartica. — 9 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 93 media reports (LINK)

Macy's to close 66 store locations. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

Son of the South: how Jimmy Carter ended the Civil War. — 9 January 2025 (LINK)

Quarter of freshwater animals are threatened with extinction. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

— Nature — (LINK)

Albania's coming ban on TikTok — after videos surfaced on TikTok showing young people expressing support for a 14-year-old's killing — could draw scrutiny from Brussels as the country works to clear the bar on civil rights protections to join the European Union. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

— "It's a pure electoral act and [an] abuse of power to suppress freedom of speech in Albania," said Ina Zhupa, an Albanian opposition MP. Ruslan Stefanovlan, program director at the the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy, said scapegoating TikTok for the tragedy "is a typical populist move." The lack of due process or solid evidence underpinning the planned ban is emblematic of the country's systemic corruption and institutional weaknesses, Stefanovlan said.

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala lands back in Rome after being freed from detention in Iran. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

UK introduces new entry fee for visitors from 48 countries. — 8 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 141 media reports (LINK)

Trump asks Supreme Court to halt his sentencing in N.Y. hush-money criminal case. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

Ex-FBI informant who fabricated bribery story about Biden and his son Hunter to influence 2020 election gets 6 years in prison. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

Judges decide Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was just confused when he didn't report all that gifted money. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

Fox News: Alaska sues Biden administration for 'irrational' restrictions on Trump-era oil and gas drilling mandate. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

Court orders European Commission to pay fine for violating EU's own data privacy rules (€400 or about $412, to be paid to German citizen). — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

AP: Jimmy Carter's life intersected with slavery's legacy. His record on civil rights is complicated. — 8 January 2025 (LINK)

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) drops the requirement to align with the Paris Agreement in order to participate: is set to undergo a significant restructuring in the way it functions and the requirements for participation, as well as a realignment of its key priorities, as more firms exit their key sub-alliance networks. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

UN set to begin tax treaty talks amid pushback from rich nations. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

EU trade chief commits to WTO in Geneva following Macron doubts. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

Trump won't rule out taking Greenland by force, vows to rename Gulf of Mexico 'Gulf of America'. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

South Korean anti-corruption agency receives new court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon. — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 81 media reports (LINK)

European court rules against Greece over migrant's illegal deportation, calls practice 'systematic'. — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 18 media reports (LINK)

— The court awarded damages of 20,000 euros to a Turkish woman, identified as A.R.E., who was expelled in 2019 without a chance to claim asylum. The court rejected a claim from an Afghan man regarding his illegal return to Turkey, citing a lack of evidence.

!6.8 Tibet earthquake near Mount Everest reportedly killed more than 120, injured 130, damaged over 3000 homes and affected five countries with regional tremors.! — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 864 media reports (LINK)

WEF: Future of Jobs Report 2025: 78 million new job opportunities by 2030 but urgent upskilling needed to prepare workforces: 170 million new jobs, displacing 92 million others. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— "Some of the fastest-growing jobs found in technology, data and AI, but growth also expected for core economy roles including delivery drivers, care roles, educators and farmworkers."

Son-in-law of Venezuela's exiled opposition leader kidnapped. — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 238 media reports (LINK)

NYC is set to get a $3 billion, 80,000-acre offshore wind farm, its first. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— As of 2023, the global average LCoE of offshore wind farms was right around $75 per megawatt-hour. China spends around $65.7/MWh while the UK spends a bit less at roughly $50/MWh. Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands all have an LCoE of about $84/MWh. The United States pays a bit of a premium compared to the rest of the world, at around $89.33/MWh. NYC's new clean energy project will cost significantly more. Along with the lease, the company locked in a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to deliver power at a strike price of $155 per megawatt-hour over the next 25 years — nearly double the national average.

Nvidia unveils $3K personal AI supercomputer small enough to fit on a desk and run from a regular power outlet, yet with enough processing power to run complex AI models. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— Along with an Nvidia Grace processor and Blackwell graphics card, the Project Digits has 4 terabytes of SSD storage and 128 gigabytes of RAM.

— Nvidia announces $3,000 personal AI supercomputer called Digits that can handle AI models with up to 200 billion parameters. — (LINK)

New Scientist: hMPV, the virus spreading through China. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— An uptick of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) cases in China has raised concerns over another pandemic, which appear to be unfounded.

Geneva Dialogues on Mineral and Metal Resources: first series January-February 2025. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, ex-National Front leader and father of Marine Le Pen, dies aged 96. — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 312 media reports (LINK)

— Le Pen, died in a hospital in Garches, near Paris, where he had been admitted several weeks ago, according to his family. He is survived by his wife, Jany Le Pen, three daughters, Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine, who is the youngest, as well as eight grandchildren, including Marion Marechal Le Pen, a politician who left the National Rally to found her own far right movement.

— In 1972, he was appointed to head a new party that was called the Front national pour l'unité française, known as the Front national, or National Front (FN). He stayed at the head of the National Front, the party he co-founded in 1972, until 2011, when he handed the reigns to his daughter, Marine Le Pen. In 2015, after he repeated his take on the Nazi gas chambers as as a "detail of history", the party decided to dismiss its founder, and expelled him from the party the next year. He never forgave Marine for changing the name to the National Rally in 2018 and gradually withdrew from public life, after leaving the European Parliament in 2019.

Meta to replace 'biased' fact-checkers with moderation by users: 'community notes' system similar to X. — 7 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 117 media reports (LINK)

JPMorgan quits Climate Finance Group, following Citi, BofA. — 7 January 2025 (LINK: limited)

US imposes sanctions on Viktor Orbán's chief of staff for alleged corruption. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

Meta now lets users say gay and trans people have 'mental illness'. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— In a notable shift, the company now says it allows "allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like 'weird.'"

Wildfire burns through LA enclave of Pacific Palisades known for its beaches and celebrity allure. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

Scientists say we may have been wrong about amino acids and the origin of life, undervaluing early protolife (which included forerunners like RNA and peptides). — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

Newsmeter: Justin Trudeau's resignation leads to celebrations in Canada? Viral videos are either AI-generated or old. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

GOP-led immigration legislation passes House in first bill of new Congress, but faces uncertain future in Senate: bill would require the detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft or burglary. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

— A critical mass of Democrats would have to join with Republicans to clear the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate, a major constraint on the chamber's new GOP majority and President-elect Donald Trump's incoming agenda. It would need eight Democrats to vote with Republicans.

The Washington Post lays off roughly 100 staffers as star journalists exit. — 7 January 2025 (LINK)

Biden permanently bans offshore drilling in 625 million acres of ocean, making a Trump reversal difficult. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

— The ban will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling along the entire East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea.

Biden awards three climate experts nation's highest science honour. — 6 January 2025 (LINK: limited)

Sudan: 'Famine conditions are spreading' — Security Council: More than 30 million need aid: U.N. launches $4.2 billion call for funds. — 6 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 15 media reports (LINK)

Canada's PM Justin Trudeau announces resignation: Canada's parliament will be suspended until March 24 while a new leader is chosen. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

Austria's far-right Freedom Party seeks to form government. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

US releases 11 Yemen nationals from Guantanamo Bay. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

— The latest release reduces the total population of the notorious US facility to 15. At its peak, almost 700 prisoners were held in Guantanamo Bay, many of whom were never charged with crimes.

Mexico drops migrants in troubled resort of Acapulco as it disperses them far from US border. — 6 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 18 media reports (LINK)

First U.S. bird flu death announced — in Louisiana. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

UK and allies to use AI monitor ships and protect undersea cables from Russian shadow fleet attacks. — 6 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 43 media reports (LINK)

— The operation, named Nordic Warden, was activated last week and harnesses AI to assess data from a range of sources to calculate the risk posed by each vessel entering areas of interest.

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema accused of misusing campaign funds for lavish travel. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

Thailand tourism bounces back by 26%, with 35 million visitors in 2024. — 6 January 2025 (LINK) — ground.news: 23 media reports (LINK)

UFC boss Dana White, long linked to Donald Trump, joining Meta's board of directors. — 6 January 2025 (LINK limited) — ground.news: 212 media reports (LINK)

Snow blankets Washington DC in capital's biggest snowstorm in years. — 6 January 2025 (LINK)

Tech entrepreneur misses flight at airport after trapped in driverless car that kept going round in circles. — 6 January 2025 (video LINK) — ground.news: 82 media reports (LINK)

— says driverless car circled aimlessly in Arizona airport parking lot and left him 'dizzy' before finally dropping him off at terminal — (LINK)